mia

My understanding is that the $30,000 spend requirement must be met in a single calendar year. Spending in December will not apply to 2010 unless Chase classifies transactions based on the statement date rather than the transaction date.

I just went through this discussion with Bank of America and in their system all purchases on our (early) January 2010 statement will be counted in 2009. I have not yet had this discussion with Chase.

Steve in Olympia

The new voucher program for customers spending $30,000 per year doesn't begin until January 1, 2010.

headinclouds

I received my card with no problems and have been using the card for several purchases. I had planned to order some presidental coins, but wonder whether a transaction of cash-equivalents counts towards the $2000 threshold within 3 months. Any recent experiences? I am not concerned about earning the BA miles, just reaching the $2000 charge threshold.

Brendan

Your cousin can use his miles to book in anyone's name. Or you all can do a Household Account simply by changing his address on his account to yours--as if he has :moved into" your home or apartment. Very plausible in these recessionary times--but they rarely if ever check.
But remember, each award booking from a HHA will withdraw miles from each account proportionally, so it's simpler to book awards from his account to use up most/ all of his miles.

Jeeves

Hopefully the statements will have a running total of year-to-date spending so that we can easily see where we stand. AMEX does a YTD tally on their SPG and HH cards.

bdd

I just called BA/Chase (1-877-376-3135) and confirmed that this is not true. You can spend 30k before the end of 2009 and receive your first voucher. Then spend 30k in 2010 to receive a 2nd, etc.

Steve in Olympia

I think the CSR you spoke with was misinformed, as this board has shown to be a frequent occurrence.

The Terms & Conditions are quite clear. If you go to this link:

www.ba.com/redeemfor1travelfor2

...you will find the following statement: "New British Airways Visa Card reward begins January 1, 2010: Every year you spend $30,000 on your BA Visa Card, you will receive a redemption voucher for a companion, valid for 2 years."

bdd

Sigh, so I made a second call to verify. This time I called Chase (as opposed to BA). They didn't have the details and asked for me to provide them the website (I gave them the one you listed). And like anyone who can read, they said that it begins in January 2010 too, so that's the rule.

So I called BA back (since I already spent $26k on this card, aiming to spend $30k by the end of 2009!), and they told me that it does start in 2010, but he said he's 99% sure that Chase will backdate the offer to this year as well, and he said to call Chase to verify (800-577-0633).

So then... (yeah... another call...) I called Chase back to simply say "I'm calling to verify the $30k spend free companion promotion." And she read to me the 50k bonus miles and 2nd 50k bonus miles after $2k spend within 3 months. Then she kept searching. Once I told her this was per year, she had an a-ha moment and found the $30k spend in 2010 reward, and *ABOVE* that in her database system it stated (and I quote, I made her read it back to me several times), "For 2009, all qualifying customers who hit the $30k in spend will receive a voucher in the first quarter of 2010." She said she wasn't sure WHEN in 2010 the voucher would come, but spending $30k in 2009 would qualify me for it. She said that you have to pay the $30k balance in 2009 too.

I asked her for this in writing, but she said she couldn't do that. Email? She couldn't do that either. But she said I should be assured that it is valid for 2009 as well, and that I could tell the next CSR to look at "per year" spending for 2010, and look right above there in the database.

aaah, so now I'm going to spend $30k on this BA card by the end of 2009! And make sure the balance is paid in full by Dec 31 as well.

rrgg

The BA rep here already confirmed (maybe in the BA forum) that spending $30k in 2009 qualifies you for the voucher. This is true even for cardholders who did not go through the 100k offer. And all of your 2009 spending counts, not just Nov. and Dec.

I can't find it now, but I could swear that somewhere BA mentioned a specific date in January for mailing the first vouchers. Maybe it was an email I received.

allergictocoach

I called in and was told that the second 50K was marked for dispatch to BA as of 12/12. Nothing happened as of today so I sent a secure message and the answer was to wait 6-8 weeks yada yada. I asked for a more in depth review as a result of some of the info on here and what seems to be a somewhat inconsistent pattern for posting of the miles.

The last message said that I met the targets and the next 50K would not be dispatched until the next closing date in Jan. and posted with BA up to 10 days after that. So it seems that I met the 2K target within the statement period and I'm being billed as such but they couldn't seem to get me credited with the amount of miles that correspond to my activity during the period. Of course I did get the 2,XXX miles for 2K spend X 1.25 during the period. Thanks for that.

I am looking at some options for the World Cup next year and the sooner I have the miles on hand for use the happier I'll be. The card is still a great deal but a little disjointed on the posting at this point.

Steve in Olympia

I have been arguing (above) that $30k in 2009 spending doesn't get you a voucher. But the CSR's have been telling folks differently. So, I made some phone calls of my own, and I am now changing my mind (like you care).

When I called Chase, they could find nothing in their materials on this issue, even after I read the sentence that others tell us in in the materials. The CSR read to me the entire page on the voucher bonus program, and no mention of 2009 spending.

The Chase CSR said something interesting: "The voucher program is a BA thing, not a Chase thing. Our job ends when we report the dollars spent to BA, and BA takes it from there and decides what you get for that spending. We don't issue the vouchers, after all; BA does. Please call BA."

So I called BA, and CSR Donovan told me that they had several meetings on this very subject and that, while their written materials don't answer this question, the CSRs are told that 2009 spending qualifies for a voucher. He then put me on hold while he verified this with his supervisor.

His comment was: "We announced this voucher program in November for both new cards and existing cards for the sole reason that we want to spur holiday spending on our cards."

Very interesting --- since my household has two pre-existing BA cards that have already hit $30k for this calendar year (like you care).

PhilC

Received my new card with my BAEC number today!

Happy

So the 2nd 50K does not show up on your statement at all.

It seems to me the bonuses are processed in batches and yours unfortunately missed the last batch for the period. At least now you have a secured email response that your next 50K would show up on your January statement, and then be sent to BA.

HLS2002

Now I'm concerned. My first statement closed, and it shows the ~125 BA miles for the ~$100 in purchases I made before the first statement closing date. These 125 miles also appeared right away in my BAEC account. Unfortunately, there's no sign of the 50k bonus in either.

I guess I'll have to e-mail Chase and confirm they have me properly enrolled in the 50/50 promo. With prior Chase credit card promos (e.g., Amtrak Guest Rewards), the sign-up bonus properly appeared on my first statement.

aces

Me too. I was amused to notice that the card expires in December 2012. So does the world, according to Roland Emmerich!